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Divisional Secretary:
John Walder
107 Shalmsford Street, Chartham, Canterbury, Kent, CT4 7RQ
Tel: 07989 871989
A word from
the Divisional Secretary of Kent NUT
When
you receive your pay cheque on 25th April, take a careful look! Yes,
your take home pay has gone down! Are you prepared to let this pay cut happen
without comment? What can you do? Keep up to date with our National Website and
our Campaigns page for local news!
Conference 2012
The Union held its annual conference in
Torquay this year and I am pleased to say that Kent
was well represented. As far as I can determine, 17 delegates from
Kent (not including the group from Medway) were there to represent the
Division. I have to confess that I did
not actually meet some of the delegates and some I saw only in passing. Perhaps it is time to resurrect the practice
of many years ago of holding a Kent Reception.
I look forward to hearing Division Council’s views on the matter. Part of the problem this year, for me at least,
was that not only was I staying outside Torquay but I
was also hatching a nasty case of flu with the result that I took myself off to
bed as soon as I could at the end of day’s business and so missed out on the
various receptions and events which took place every evening. The other
inconvenience was that I was unable to get to conference until the Saturday
morning as my progress across southern England was impeded by two crashes which
blocked, in quick succession, the A303 and then the A35.
Once again, Conference was seemingly of
a single mind on many issues and resorted to a card vote on only one occasion
on what was a minor matter. The main
motions were decided by substantial majorities, in particular over the issue of
the pension campaign. It is interesting
to note, listening to the discussion on the matter that there appears to be a
definite tension between the London Divisions and the rest of the country
outside the major population centres. Officers from London seem much more confident
of activating their membership for another one-day strike than their colleagues
from the shires where the notion of alternative action seems more favoured. In
conversation with colleagues from Divisions resembling Kent in size and
membership, it would appear that a big event in the nature of the London march
of last March would be well-supported. I
have reported along these lines on opinions in our Division to Bob Stapley, standing in as Regional Secretary for Marion Darke who is recovering from a spell in hospital for a hip
replacement. Bob was asked to survey
Divisions in the South-east on the matter with a view to informing the National
Executive in time for their meeting to discuss ways of taking the campaign
forward. This is of course in the light
of the unanimous decision of Conference to continue the fight against the
government’s attack on our pensions.
Pensions were discussed on suspension of standing orders in order to
take account of recent developments which rendered many of the existing motions
redundant. This was to have the
unfortunate effect of preventing Motion 42 from West Sussex, and which I was
due to second, from seeing the light of day.
With our colleagues in West Sussex, I am taking steps to rectify what we
regard as being a most unfortunate turn of events. I shall return to this later.
In Session two on Saturday morning, two
attempts to refer back the Executive report on salaries and conditions of
service were made. The first, objecting
to the lack of emphasis on the need to tackle teacher stress was successful. Apart from that, motions on fighting the new
Performance Management rules, on the misuse of capability and on teacher
workload were largely passed. There were
some interesting interventions which were not well received conference coming
from Haringey and which are referred to in Fred
Jarvis’ article in the TES of 27th April. I recommend this article to your
attention. One other motion on false
allegations against teachers was passed unanimously.
In session three on Saturday afternoon, we
listened to a very intense speech from an Australian lawyer who is involved in
supporting young Palestinians who find themselves caught up with the Israeli
authorities. It made uncomfortable
listening. A unanimous motion on Sixth
form colleges followed and then there was the discussion on Pensions already
mentioned.
Sunday morning began with Session four
and a passionate discussion concerning all aspects of Ofsted. Our opposition to Ofsted
was largely carried although, once more, a member from Haringey
and one from Newham made some unwelcome (to the
majority of delegates) but, in my view quite sensible, cautionary remarks in an attempt
to inject some realism into the calls for action. A unanimous motion against
the introduction of the market into state education followed before standing
orders were suspended for the discussion on salaries. Later in the session,
motions were passed calling for opposition to the government’s phonics programme, against the incidence of youth unemployment and
for inclusion in SEN.
Monday morning saw the session devoted
to Welsh matters and this was followed by the priority motion against localised pay and in favour of
nationally negotiated pay. The motion
was passed unanimously. In the afternoon
session there were debates on international and equality issues which I did not
attend, coming back into the conference chamber for the discussions on union organisation.
Motions were passed on the issues of the importance of the lay structure
of the union and the need to foster the role of the school rep.
The last session on Tuesday was devoted
to catching up on unfinished business (not enough, however, for Motion 42 to
see the light of day) and to the annual discussion on improving the way in
which conference is organised. The usual targets of
discussion, composite motions and gender bias, were given a good airing. Conference
broke up in the rain but in good spirits.
Everyone I know finds the experience of going to conference invigorating
and energising.
Delegates may argue over just about everything, but you come away
knowing that there are thousands of colleagues around the country who share
your general view of the national education service and your part in it. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that
but conference is the restorative. I
recommend it to you all.
As an envoi, let me come back to Motion
42. This was conceived as an attempt to
get the union to consider the discrepancies that exist between the metropolitan
divisions and those situated in what I call loosely “the shires”. In discussion with my opposite numbers from
several “shire” divisions, we have come to the conclusion that the union should
seriously consider adjusting its organisation to take
account what the Divisional Secretary for West Sussex calls the “democratic
deficit”. This is simply illustrated by
some easy comparisons between the realities of being an officer in, say, a
London Borough and the same officer in, say, Kent. My colleague in the London Borough is able to
cycle round his division and to visit all schools in the course of a morning; I
have to reckon on at least two hours by car simply to get from one school in
the east to another in the west. My
colleague in the London Borough is probably within walking distance of the
regional office. For our regional
official to meet me, he has to do at least two hours
driving and, if the meeting is, say, in Thanet then
he is looking at 3 hours in the car.
Nevertheless, the structure is the same in each case. Our motion sought to address this by calling
for a working party to examine the matter and come up with solutions. Sadly, it was not to be and so we are now
looking at ways of keeping the issue alive for development another day. Touch wood!
John Walder
Honorary Secretary,
Kent Division of the NUT.
28th March 2012 - Over 6000 demonstrated in Central London against
Pension Theft! This campaign will not go away, Fair Pensions for All!
Are you a head teacher colleague?
We need your help. Too many of
our student and NQT colleagues are coming into the profession without the
benefit of experience in good schools. They need the help and support of
their professional colleagues and this means you. If you can find room in
your school to give a new or prospective teacher a chance to gain the
experience necessary to progress into the profession then contact Sue Rogers of
Kent County Council (sue.rogers@kent.gov.uk
) and offer your services. For further information on this contact secretary@kent.nut.org.uk
Music teacher? Go to this site to read an
important Ofsted document about music teaching in school http://www.ism.org/news/article/ofsted_2012_recommendations
The 30th
November – We Made it Count!
Your
willingness to take action over your pension has forced ministers back to the
negotiating table and unions are committed to taking part in meaningful talks
about public service pensions. We will now be examining the new proposals in
detail and moving into sector specific negotiations. However, unless and until
acceptable offers are made, it is important that we keep the pressure on and in
doing so all public sector unions will be standing shoulder to shoulder to
fight for decent pensions.
Together we are stronger, together we can win.
